|
| Building options in Ireland |
For more information on building check out the sub-category menu on the right.
Self Build
-------------
In Ireland, self building is understood to be building your house and putting in anything upwards of 25% of your own manual labour. As a self-builder you will be multi-tasking in a spectacular way for at least a year. You (and perhaps your partner) will be responsible for overseeing every aspect of the build.. This will include finding the site, applying for planning, project managing the build itself. Sub-contracting for skilled trades and professionals and engaging direct labour for general work on the site. Planning permission, insurance, the mortgage, compliance with building regulations, the sourcing, purchasing and timely delivery of all materials, will be co-ordinated by you.
As those inevitable nerve-shredding tasks continue day in, day out, you will also be rolling up your sleeves and working on site too, your mobile welded to your car. A sabbatical from work is sometimes, but not always, necessary for self-building, but you could save up to 20% on the cost of the build by participating in the ultimate in DIY.
Like any good manager, self builders should delegate where they can, as the physical, financial and emotional strain of participating in a project so close to the heart often takes many virgin self-builders by surprise. For example, if you have an architect willing to handle the planning process for you, pay the extra few hundred euro and get on with something else. You must be brutally honest with yourself about your practical experience and people skills before you embark on this particular route.
A seasoned self-builder knows how to orchestrate all the trades and knows how to get involved or to stand back from a task being performed on site. Will you be ale to deal with labourers and sub-contractors in a firm, friendly way that will not result in the sort of taffeta swishing that can delay a home for several expensive months?
What price do you put on your own time and sanity? If you want to live on site during this process, use the following visual. Imagine you are in a cold shower tearing up 50 euro notes. Your entire crew is in the bathroom with you and your spouse and children are emitting high-pitched screams by your side. Having got out of the shower, you change into dry clothes, pick up another handful of 20 euro notes and get back into the shower. Not for the faint hearted.
Working with sub-contractors
----------------------------------------
By opting to use direct labour at any stage of your build just like a classic self-builder you effectively become the builder. The arrival of the ‘package home’ has made many home builders leery of dealing with a sole contractor, to break their build down into a two-stage process. First of all, the company selling you the house (timber frames homes are a perfect example) put up your house to a weather tight stage.
The first fix of electrics and plumbing will be in place and you may already had to organise a team to build your foundation and do the groundwork before the skeleton of your home arrived on site. Many timber frame companies provide many of the extras needed to complete the house to a virtually ‘turn-key’ finish even if you carry on alone.
It is also possible to hire a contractor to build your home to a shell stage of two skins of block with the roof felted and battened, and then hire in trades and labour to finish the interiors, plastering, second fixing, fixtures, fitting, final grading and landscaping of the site around the house. There is a dizzying array of possibilities outside of using one single builder to put up the house with differing degrees of personal hands-on involvement. Having wet your feet in the building process and having seen the shell of your house shoot skyward, it is tempting to become over-confident and believe that the rest of the build will be a doddle.
This approach carries all the inherent demands of the classic self-build. Co-ordinating the arrival and departure of the various crews and trades will be critical to the timely success of your build. All the usual red tape and common sense of compliance certificates, site insurance and adherence to planning and the building regulations still apply.. There is, without doubt, a more nebulous atmosphere with weekly payments to a shifting crew of direct labourers.
Building with direct labour for the closing phase of the build can be an extremely economically choice if all goes well. Carpenters have a saying ‘measure twice and cut once’. Are you given to meticulous planning, an excellent list maker and likely to be reasonably affable with both professionals and general labourers working on site? In that case, acting as your own builder is a promising course.
Don’t expect a lightening fast build, and don’t pay anyone ‘on the hour’. Work only to a price. If you opt to include the bartered services of friends and family as often happens , where there are skilled trades amongst your kin, be aware that this might delay your build and put a strain on those relationships. If great Uncle Ted who does ‘grand electrics’ according to your great Aunt Nora, doesn’t show up until midday with a smile and a shrug, it will be harder to bawl him out than a man with whom you have a purely financial and contractual relationship.
Using a main contractor
---------------------------------
Creating a home using a builder as your single contracted labour source is not unusual, but it is a complicated relationship, fraught with potential disaster. Unless you have a certain firm in mind you would be well advised to let your architect or engineer undertake the tendering stage for you. A building firm needs as much detailed comprehensible information about the building and finishing of the house as is humanly possible to even attempt a proper estimate. In the hands of a competent architect, for example, you could be armed with, amongst other things, detailed plans, a contract proposal, specifications, information on insurance, stage payments and even (best of all) a Bill of Quantities.
A Bill of Quantities will cost you a few hundred euro, but bear in mind that serious budget disasters further down the line tend to come in four figure sums not three. If you leave a Bill of Quantities to the builder at a pre-tender stage, he does not need to show you the results of the research he has paid for.
It is almost impossible to avoid what are called provisional costings (referred to as PC) when you or your architect are not sure of the detailed finishing of something integrated into the build. However, the key thing is to keep these grey areas to a minimum and encourage accurate tenders. If you approach some less scrupulous builders with a woolly budget figure, you are not asking for trouble, you are begging for it.
When your paperwork for the tendering stage agrees with the planning permission, you are ready to send your letters out to the universe. Pick out at least three firms. Medium sized firms will have more people to consistently dedicate to your site than a smaller team. Word of mouth 9over even being registered) seems to be the accepted norm in Ireland for finding the right people, but your mortgage provider will have a good deal to say about using Jack the Lad & Co.
Most people are delighted to share their building stories, good or bad, and a touch of indiscretion can be a Godsend. A builder will expect to receive a letter asking him to tender, a tender form, and a request for essentials like A schedule of Rates, which refers to the phased payments the builders will expect for labour and materials.
If some of the prices quoted in the resulting tenders seem stratospheric, you must ask yourself several uncomfortable questions. First of all, does this particular builder really want the job at all? It is not unusual for contractors to price themselves out of a job that is for example too far away or highly complex.
How accurate was your architects preliminary estimate? If you go into contract (and you should) there will be a time limit measured generally in weeks for a completion date, with financial penalties for any unreasonable delay. Once the work starts, visit the site regularly, evaluating progress at each stage with the educated eye of your architect or engineer.
Building with a project manager
--------------------------------------------
It is not necessary to have a direct relationship with the individuals hired to build your home. If you do not possess sufficient local knowledgeand you do not have a contractor in mind, engaging a project manager to oversee the build can work extremely well. Project managers come in many guises and their duties vary according to the level of your participation in the planning and execution of the build.
Your architect, quantity surveyor or engineer can project manage your build for you if they live close enough to visit the site without any difficulty. If they are the ‘competent professional’ designated by your mortgage company, the compliance certificates for the planning authority and mortgage provider, can be dealt with efficiently as the build commences.
Your project is not only an experienced individual protecting your interests and the quality of the build, but functions as a diplomatic bridge between you and the sub-contracted trades and direct labourers on site. Obviously anyone with any experience in the building industry can declare themselves to be a project manager, and there are many highly talented individuals without formal qualifications who get passed from project to project based on the high reputation of their last commission.
Percentage charges, phased payments or a charge per visit are the standard forms of payment, and obviously a manager should be paid in full only when everything on the ‘snag’ list after completion has been dealt with to your satisfaction. Some freelance managers, just like many direct labourers are leery of a formal contract. Cost wise, using a project manager is comparable to using a contractor, though stories abound of managers saving home builders a fortune by taking advantage of contracts built up over a lifetime in the building trade.
It is important to choose your manager carefully and if you don’t know the firm or the person you are considering, do some very specific investigation. Talk directly to a couple of individuals who have used this person as their project manager in the recent past. Obviously, things can go pear shaped on site, no matter how well organised the build, but in general, did the project manager stay in touch and carry out the tasks agreed upon before the build commenced? Are they still satisfied with the quality of the build?
Comunication is key, and your project manager should be available to you (or returning your calls promptly) during working hours for the full duration of the build. They will not be expected to be omnipresent on site, but should be in direct touch with sub-contractors and will carry out scheduled and unexpected visits on a regular basis.
************************
The above article was provided by a leading authority on Irish Homes, Karen Hesse, editor of "House and Home", Ireland's favourite interiors magazine, which put together 'Build your own House and Home', a 340 page publication, available from leading newsagents nationwide.
www.houseandhome.ie
Subscribe now to House and Home:
http://www.houseandhome.ie/subscription.asp
Google
Google
Yahoo
MSN
Yahoo
Dmoz
irishpropertymarket.com
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
 |
